§ 488.730.Release of Attach Property

Attachments end for many reasons — settlement, exemption, a court order — and Section 488.730 governs how the levying officer unwinds one. The officer releases property upon written direction from the plaintiff's attorney (or the plaintiff, if unrepresented), upon a certified copy of a court order, or whenever otherwise required to do so; the release extinguishes the plaintiff's attachment lien on that property.

What happens next depends on how the property was held. Property taken into custody goes back to the person it was taken from, unless the court orders otherwise; if that person does not come get it, the officer holds it and serves notice of where to retrieve it, and if it is still unclaimed 30 days later, the officer sells it under the same execution-sale procedure used elsewhere in this title (except cash at or below face value, which is held as is). Sale proceeds and cash, after deducting the officer's costs, go to the county treasurer payable to that person, and if unclaimed for five years, they escheat to the county's general fund. Property that was never taken into custody — because it was levied by service or by recording or filing — is released instead by a written notice of release served on whoever was originally served to create the lien, or recorded or filed in the same office where the original writ and notice were recorded or filed (with a Secretary of State filing released per § 697.650). The officer faces no liability for a release made under this section, and neither does anyone who acts consistently with it.